Finding That Center
by storyspinners
Summary: Everyone starts out somewhere. And because at some point, Asuka had to have doubts before she learned to be strong. One-shot. Childhood story.


Authors Note: Actually came out longer than expected with some outside motivational help. Takes place sometime in Asuka and Fubuki's childhood.

Don't own.

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For reasons they didn't quite know, Domino City was buzzing with life. Parents, teenagers, and children alike swarmed in various masses, bumping into one another as they rushed in different directions in an endless string of people. The Tenjōin siblings were counted among the younger children milling about; told to wait by a small bubbling fountain within their parent's eyesight.

They were just visiting. Some sort of business affair or other such brief gathering for their mother and father, which wasn't meant to last long. But of all the places they could have been dragged to, at least being outside was infinitely better than the constrictive confines of a waiting room.

Asuka sat watching, feet dangling barely above the ground, as her brother paraded around the edge of the clear blue water, brandishing his Duel Monster cards in triumphant flourishes. "Just wait, Asuka. Someday we'll be famous duelists like the great Jonouchi! You'll see," Fubuki called to his sister with a laugh, his eyes shining the way they always did when speaking of his infallible role model. It wasn't the first time Fubuki had made such claims and Asuka believed it wouldn't be his last, but she was already quite accustomed to it and knew well enough to merely grin back. Though, it seemed closer to a broken smile and thankfully her brother didn't catch it while he continued his strut about the fountain.

Fubuki wasn't the cause of it, no, but he would have asked her, pestered her, and demanded to know how and why she looked so downcast on a beautifully warm day like today. And Asuka would have had to brush it off and lie, because she had no answer to those questions. She couldn't specifically pin down what she felt right then.

Several children danced and played in the distance while Asuka thought. She glanced down to her right at her own cards lying neatly beside her and sighed. Almost certainly, in the back of her mind, she knew it came from what other kids had been saying; their taunts and whispers nestling inside her chest, pummeling into her like a hammer to a nail and building up until it suffered an overwhelming air. They had laughed at her desire to be a duelist, a dream shared with her brother. She was just a silly girl, the other kids had told her, she didn't know how to duel, wasn't strong enough to stand up against an opponent. They had said she was much too pretty to be taken seriously anyway… and Asuka didn't understand what that was supposed to mean.

The subtle cruelty of those words pierced through her, whether anyone noticed or not and Asuka doubted they did. In similar cases, she'd seen others cry; sad tears that begged to be pitied and Asuka flat-out refused to be one of those girls. She learned, perhaps too early, how to school her features and expressions, erecting a mask of confidence.

But maybe that's all it was. A mask.

Maybe they were right.

Asuka didn't want to think that way however. Determination flooded her senses whenever those words reached her ears and made her yearn for her own chance to succeed one day. After all, there was a difference, Asuka realized, between someone _telling_ you about a beautifully magnificent jewel that lay inside a well-kept, velvet box…and reaching out for the case yourself to glimpse the elusive treasure. If only she knew what to do with that determination.

As Fubuki passed around Asuka's side and continued strolling forward, his footing shifted on the slippery cement and almost fell backwards. Asuka jumped, instinctively moving to help him, but Fubuki righted himself easily and proceed onward, unfazed in the slightest. Nevertheless, with Asuka's attention drawn elsewhere, she turned only in time to see her deck scooped up by two snickering boys. They weren't much older than herself, one taller with dark hair and the other with a lighter orange, but their eyes glinted menacingly as one of them waved the cards in front of Asuka's face before snatching them out of her reach and running off.

"Stop!" Asuka yelled, desperation coating that single phrase against her will as she chased after them. The fountain, her parents, and Fubuki were momentarily forgotten as Asuka ran, not waiting to see if anyone was going to call her back.

Asuka tripped and stumbled, colliding with individual arms and legs, clothing blending together in a myriad of colors as she fought her way in what she could only guess was the right direction. And after going so far with no trace of her cards anywhere, Asuka worried they may be lost forever, when she spotted them.

The two thieves were shuffling away to the right, looking thoroughly ashamed and…empty handed? Asuka's eyes darted away from their retreating backs to meet those of a slowly approaching woman, Asuka's cards in her hand.

She was a duelist. Asuka didn't need to see the disk to register that immediately. The woman breathed self-assurance and power and Asuka's feet felt rooted to the spot, her legs either unable or unwilling to move away from this approaching figure. When she gently held out the cards, leaving Asuka to wonder how this woman even knew they were hers, the younger of the two hesitated, awed, and speechless, and _starring_ before taking them in her own, much smaller hands.

And when she gripped them forcefully, securing her hold on those cards, something flashes across the other woman's face, so brief that it might not have been there at all. She was wearing a mask too, Asuka suddenly discovered, but this woman was stronger, more skilled, and just so… different. Perhaps it was that she represented someone Asuka hoped to be one day. Passionate, independent, and….brave.

She hadn't felt so brave, desperately running through the crowds, begging to whoever might be listening that her deck, her precious cards, wouldn't be lost forever. She wanted to feel just a spark of the confidence radiating off the woman in front of her; taste a small sample of that courage so she herself might be able to protect what was hers. She wanted to be worthy of calling herself a great duelist, even though right now, as her face flushed in embarrassment and her eyes flickered to meet the ground, she felt anything but.

So lost in the endless doubts of her own restless mind, a confusing tangle of knots she couldn't sort through, Asuka hardly noticed the soft delicate hand that tucked under her chin. Gently persuaded, Asuka lifted her head, soft blonde hair resting against her shoulders as she glanced searchingly into shining amethyst eyes. The woman leaned closer, down to match Asuka's own eye-level, traces of a small smile hidden at the corner of her lips. She winked when she finally had Asuka's attention, saying in a voice that was both comforting and firm, "Don't let those boys get to you. They're not worth your tears."

Asuka was too caught up to reply, so she merely nodded, feeling that hurt and shame ebbing away, like crystal ocean waves washing across the rough grooves in the sand and smoothing the grains back into place. The woman nodded as well, her own golden strands bouncing slightly with the movement as she stood straight once again, her hand pulling back to rest on her hip, that quiet tenderness replaced by her protective mask almost as if it had never existed in the first place. But Asuka knew it was there. The two of them stood for a another moment, Asuka waiting with her cards grasped tightly in her hands, holding them so very close to her chest and heart. What she was waiting for, Asuka couldn't say, but it was important. She wouldn't leave, couldn't leave, until she found out what exactly it was.

Looking over the younger girl once more, the woman nodded again, but this time it was different. It was a gesture full of understanding recognition and Asuka felt her heart swell briefly in an indefinable way. The movement in and of itself so simple, so universal, but for her it relayed acceptance and a respect so very rarely shown to anyone who did not truly deserve it. And the rest of the tremulous troubles snaking their way around Asuka's thundering heart were forgotten as she listened, carefully, fully, desperately soaking up every word lest she miss one of them as the woman stated, "Keep working at it." and Asuka knew she would remember this in times to come, "Keep trying. Keep fighting." And the woman was turning away, heading back to wherever and whatever had brought her across Asuka's path. And for a fleeting moment she didn't want her to leave, wanted her to stay, but before her mind would allow her to call out she realized it would be impossible, illogical, for a woman like her to wait. Like asking the sun to stop shinning. And just as Asuka thought that was all she was to earn from her mysterious acquaintance, the woman glanced back over her shoulder, that gentleness flickering in her eyes for a moment and she said quietly, "Because you certainly have what it takes." before disappearing beyond her sight.

Asuka walked back quietly, feet picking up her natural pace in an absent-minded shift of motion, her thoughts flitting around; merely dust specs that fleetingly danced in tune with her imagination and reflected all that she had encountered, but always aborting it, trying to understand it.

Fubuki came into view and Asuka was surprised to find that he had not made it far from the fountain. She wasn't gone very long it seemed, but she couldn't help thinking that her venture had lasted hours. It certainly felt like hours. She smiled slightly, small and reassuring as if to tell her brother she was fine, not to worry, and don't tell their parents. Despite her silent communication, which she knew full well Fubuki understood, he checked her over, studying and fussing in what Asuka defined as a unique sibling habit.

Asuka let him, but gave no indication of an explanation other than her recovered deck. She stayed lost her revelations, a sense of purpose peeking its way into her being. It felt like she had moved up a step, shedding a previous variation of herself and emerging in higher spirits because of it. She was so little yet; too young to really know what was in store for her, but she wanted to keep climbing those steps, wanted to work her way to that dream-like jewel.

That elated bubble warmed Asuka's insides as she smiled to herself, full and genuine. The kind of smile a child is supposed to feel, as she squeezed her cards once more and glanced back over her shoulder. Perhaps it wasn't so terrible to have a knowing, more experienced hand, nudge that seemingly out-of-reach box, that ever hidden, but so fully desired jewel, just a little bit closer.

THE END


End file.
